Theater Uncut at the Clurman Theater

Video The actress performs a scene from Neil LaBute’s “In the Beginning,” part of a program by Theater Uncut at the Clurman Theater.

By KEN JAWOROWSKI

January 30, 2013

Before you tackle an issue, remember to tell a good tale. That’s a quick and dirty rule for playwrights looking to explore big topics onstage. After all, if you can’t earn an audience’s attention, your ideas are sure to be ignored.

That guideline is only sometimes followed in a program of short plays presented by the British troupe Theater Uncut. The works, written in response to the worldwide economic slowdown, seek to “get people thinking, talking and taking action.” The two here with the best chance of doing that build sturdy dramas rather than preach to a captive choir.

“In the Beginning,” by Neil LaBute, is one of the stronger works. This play, about a daughter (Gia Crovatin) trying to persuade her Mercedes-driving father (Victor Slezak) to finance her trip to the Occupy Wall Street camp, teases out its thoughts on economic idealism and hypocrisy with a handful of laughs and a pair of familiar characters. A tart, funny ending makes it still more satisfying.

“Fragile,” by David Greig, is a powerful piece about an unstable man (Brian Hastert) who threatens to take extreme measures to protest the closing of a mental health clinic because of budget cuts. The show’s unconventional structure (the audience plays a role, calling out a character’s lines) strengthens the premise by suggesting that we’re all somehow complicit.

Too many others, however, misfire. “The Break Out,” by Anders Lustgarten, is a slight allegorical sketch about two prisoners in a surreal jail, while “The Price,” an overlong absurdist piece by Lena Kitsopoulou, finds a couple in a supermarket, preparing to buy a child.

“Spine,” by Clara Brennan, is a sweet if unchallenging one-woman tale in support of libraries, and “The Birth of My Violence,” a monologue by Marco Canale, features a man whose fury is rousing yet unfocused. All the plays benefit from talented actors and directors who use a bare stage at the Clurman Theater to full effect.

In the end this 90-minute program is most compelling when its writers create a recognizable (though not necessarily realistic) picture of our economic anxieties. The best pieces here put stagecraft first, rather than use a play to prop up an idea.

The program by Theater Uncut continues through Sunday at the Clurman Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton; (212) 239-6200, theatreuncut.com